Dublin

III BLOG Toto Travels 
Dublin

A very lazy morning in Dublin was so welcome and necessary. We both slept until almost 9:00!  Then we organized our "stuff" and didn't leave the room until a bit after 11:00.  Still full from pizza last night at 9:00 pm, we didn't eat breakfast.  First order of business was obtaining Euros.  Walking down from Bewleys to the ATM, we then headed to a DART station, tried unsuccessfully to obtain DART tickets, and eventually ended up walking to City Center in a light rain and drizzle for most of the way.  Got our exercise for the day! 
The Tourist Information (TI) office is in an old church building, sprawling and most compelling.  The TI man was very excited to note we were Americans. "Oh, your President Obama is coming to visit, is that why you are here?" 
"NO! " We exclaimed.  He looked horrified, "You don't like Obama?"
"Oh no, he is fine.  We just don't want to be here with all the security."
He looked slightly mollified. 
After a sightsee through the TI, we decided it was time to eat. We went across the street to a beautiful looking pub called O'Neals. As we were debating between the two food lines,  a man came up behind us - acting a bit impatient and all business. Karen turned to him and asked which line was to order fish and chips. His entire demeanor changed.  He smiled and relaxed and was suddenly a wonderful, helpful ambassador of Ireland. It was pretty funny and very appreciated. (We think he was thinking, "Ahh, tourist money!") 
We ordered fish and chips - it was pretty bad - greasy through and through. Oh well, the atmosphere was great.
After another run through the tourist shop,  we took a hop-on - hop-off tour of Dublin.  It was cold and windy and a good time to be on the bus under the roof. We were taking notes on what to visit when we got back to Dublin next week - little did we know!
For dinner, we decided to take the DART to Howth, a harbor town on the North side of Dublin. Through a driving rain, we arrived after about a 15 minute dash with slacks soaked from mid-calf down at the Tara DART station. Rode out to Howth with two lovely and helpful Irish ladies who were just returning from a visit to New York!
They recommended Aqua Restaurant but warned us it was expensive. It is all the way to the end of the row of markets and restaurants in a sleepy little town that has obviously been affected by the bad economy.
Aqua was expensive even for the early bird special, but very good with a lovely view of the bay.
After freezing in the wind trying to walk along the bay, we gave it up and took DART  back to Sandymount Station, which is less than a five minute walk to Bewleys.
Karen and I both decided with such close access to DART, we would book rooms for next week with the Mikes at Bewleys - Karen and Mike for 4 nights and Mike and I for 2 nights.
And off to the room, cheers from some kind of sporting match could be heard - probably hurling or football (soccer to us Yanks)

Saturday morning it was up and to the airport to hire our car. Settled the account at Bewleys and the discovered that: the Queen was coming, followed by President Obama and security in Dublin would be like airport security, THEN there was some huge European football finals between Wales and Scotland AND a hurling event.  Dublin would be a crowded mess for the next two weeks, rooms going for double to quadruple the usual - already expensive - rates. WOW!  Big shift in plans afoot now.
Taxi was ready for us and our lady cabby was hilarious about the Queen coming and all the hoopla.  My favorite remark, "She's an 85 year old woman for Chrissake, she should be home with her feet up, not cavorting around causing chaos." The Cabbie also gave us some great tips on where to stay somewhat out of Dublin.

Now to Hertz to pick up our car and head out on our extended adventure in rural Ireland.  Here I go driving on he opposite side of the road. Our wee car is a Suzuki Alto - an automatic, one less hassle. 

We have a few regrets about Dublin. Karen actually has several regrets since they were planning to spend most of their time in Dublin with day trips out. Since we probably won't spend much time back there, we both wish we had done things a bit differently on Friday.  Between the additional security, the crowds, and the lack of rooms available, it does not seem like a fun way to spend our limited time in Ireland.  Oh well, there is an entire country for us to explore. And I hear the real Ireland is NOT Dublin anyway.